Even if they're willing to remove the DRM, they're probably not going to want to take the time to add achievements. That's fine by me, though. It's funny that some people come here claiming to want DRM-free games but complain that some of them lack achievements when almost all games with achievements require you to be online to unlock them.

Achievements should be built offline w/ offline profiles and into the game itself from the beginning. Think of what Divinity 2 ED/DKS/DC does here, since Achievements weren't a thing on Steam really yet.

If player goes online ever - well, then it should check for Achievements and add any that the player has made, appropriately to the proper service that the game's actually supporting.

Really tired of Achievements acting as soft-DRM to force players to be online to earn them too; especially if a game's got single-player achievements.

All problems solved.

Steam DRM documentation especially recommends using online achievements, so it's not too surprising that games are using them as soft-DRM.

Why there is something called Galaxy achievements is the real question, as having online soft-DRM in a DRM-free store doesn't make any sense.

Is Humble Bundle a mechanism of money laundering?

I'm asking... but possibly not asking.

This is predicated on the assumption that

1) Publishers want to publish on GOG and the only thing holding them back is DRM-free
2) Publishers (especially AAA) are willing work to remove DRM-related software from games after a certain period of time

I think 1 already has some flaws. All of the Playstation on PC games (Days Gone, God of War, HZD, Spiderman) are DRM-free on Epic and steam-DRM only on steam but still didnt make their way to GOG. Other notable indie games like Hades are also apparently DRM-free but have not come to GOG.

I dont think that its only DRM-free requirement a blocker (I do think it is for some big studios like EA or Square Enix) but also the simple fact that GOG just doesnt have as much market share.

Its a sad but simple fact that steam owns about 75% of the PC gaming market. Indie developers likely feel they can reach most of the market, fan interactions, updates, etc by just focusing on steam as the benefits from going to other storefronts is likely marginal. Epic is only making waves right now because they are far more generous in their cut and contracts but in terms of market share, Steam still dominates.

Since GOG doesnt have the market share of steam (and maybe has lost to Epic) or the money of Epic, its going to be hard for GOG to attract more games which puts GOG in his vicious negative cycle (no new games so no new customers so no new developer interest so no new games...) and becoming "steam-lite" wont change that. If anything, it will cause current GOG customers to leave while current steam users wont transition to GOG (because "hur hur everyone wants to copy steam but steam already da best" in their minds).

It also doesnt help that the majority of consumers arnt informed enough to realize what DRM means and how little ownership they actually have over recent products. There are still people "surprised" by the fact that they lose access to movies they "bought" on their Prime subscription of the movie is delisted from the Prime service and since steam is so big, there is the assumption that "well as long as steam doesnt close down my library is fine and steam will never close"

As much as I don't want DRM games at GOG, I don't want them to die either, and I suspect the same is the case for most folk who currently have a sizable library of games with GOG. I say that, despite having always downloaded my games immediately after purchase. I do admit I haven't kept up with all updates though, and some games continue to get updates.

Even if GOG did go DRM or more than likely just partial if they did go that route, I would still use GOG, if never buying any of the DRM games here. I would still purchase any DRM-Free game they might provide, if I was interested enough and the price was right. Then I would also just come here now and then for any updates they would still get.

I would never be happy with DRM here for the single player portion of any game, but would grudgingly tolerate or accept DRM here, to still have access to my library and the odd good DRM-Free game.

GOG's survival is what matters most to me, certainly with the proviso I list above. My biggest worry though, is that GOG going DRM will actually be the beginning of the end for them. I don't really know how they can survive as another DRM store, though I guess it might be down to how many good DRM-Free games they can still get.

Some DRM-Free is still better than none, and going back to how things were before GOG started. That said, Itch.io has a sizable number of great DRM-Free games, as do a small number of other stores, if much less in comparison to GOG. ZOOM Platform could well come into its own if GOG ever drop the DRM-Free ball, perhaps making GOG even less relevant, except for those of us with a large library at GOG.

Let's keep hoping it never comes to that.

There's also FireFlower Games.
They are of course a bit niche of a niche, as they are DRM-free and accept only "story rich games", mostly adventure games into their catalogue, with a disclaimer that they don't accept games with "an excessive amount of violence".

For us who prefer adventure games, it's a good option to have in any case.
They even have at least one game that is available only on FireFlower.

^this
I bought some games there, it's a nice little site, even if their website scripts are even worse than the ones we find here.

The ones I could only get there and not on GOG are mostly B-rate adventures, but Tony Tough for example was one of the best adventures of the year, when it came out. That's easily a A+ game.

Tony Tough and the Night of the Roasted Monks
Sol 705
Nancy The Happy Whore And The Perfidious Petrol Station
Al Emmo & the Lost Dutchman's Mine
Captain Disaster in: Death Has A Million Stomping Boots
Mysteries of Peak Valley 1-3
Conspirocracy
Gold Rush + Gold Edition
Heroine's Quest
Jack Trekker
Mysteries of Peak Valley 1-3
Reversion 1-3
Tales
The Perils of Man
Yet Another Hero Story

Yeah, too bad none of those games are on GOG.
But there are other sources for all of them, especially if Steam is acceptable. I believe all of them are there DRM-free.

I think Tony Tough was for a while DotEmu exclusive, where I bought my copy from, but after DotEmu closed their shop, it has been released elsewhere too. Why it's not on GOG is a complete mystery, as obviously the game can be legally sold, and even DRM-free.

Anyway, Anastronaut II is the one game I haven't seen anywhere else but FireFlower, so unless one day someone shows me another source for that, it is very surprisingly a FireFlower exclusive game

Midian Design's Quantumnauts and Quantumnauts 2 are kind of semi-exclusives on FireFlower.
As far as I'm aware of, it's the only place to buy them separately. They are available on Itch.io though in Midian Design - The Beginning Bundle.

Yep, and not just them.

Big Fish Games is another.

I could also list Humble (do I have to), who have something like 1400 DRM-Free games, but they have been in my bad books for a while.

IndieGala, like Humble, is also a Steam Key reseller, and while I have never determined how to work out which of their games are DRM-Free, I have gotten many DRM-Free games over the years from them, free ... and still do get the occasional new one.

And of course, we could mention the many DRM-Free Lite games at both Steam and Epic.

I have grabbed a few games from FireFlower Games, but I could not tell you when I last visited them. If I remember correctly their pricing was a bit off (like the ZOOM Platform), and maybe some other factors about the store, and I say that as a lover of Adventure games.

I bought them on fireflower, because I don't want to buy on Steam, if I can avoid it.

ps: Humble I hardly ever use anymore, since they basically act as Steam reseller these days - if you exclude all the games that are already available on GOG, there is not much left.
Humble would be my second choice after GOG otherwise.

Humble have largely been fine for me, and the price was right for a number of drm free games years ago, but I'm wary since I've had issues with some of their drm free games randomly changing files and not working and not getting any help from support on it.

Poor excuses from Humble Support is what stopped me buying their DRM-Free games.

And it can't get any poorer than failing the MD5 test with the value they provide, but then they give excuses about why they cannot fix the situation. Why they would think a situation like that is going to turn out well for them, I have no idea, as buying is mostly about trust, trusting that they will do the right thing ... other than just offering you a refund. If they really cared, they would give a voucher as well, to compensate for all the wasted time etc, and no good result. Ultimately though, if they truly cared, they would have a decent backup of a game file, that actually matched the provided MD5 value, and didn't throw a zip error.

Yeah, it was one of the SNK games from many years ago and they offered me a refund but weren't clear if it would remove all the SNK games from my account so I didn't take it, but definitely disappointed.